Arianna in Wonderland
by Tall on the Inside
Summary: Life gets puzzling for Arianna after she falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, where she's faced with a puzzle-solving white rabbit, a not-so-mad hatter, and a Queen of Hearts who, try as she might, just can't convince anyone to eat her homemade tarts
1. In Which Luke is Late for Something

**Author's Note:**

Right, I am so glad I have finally uploaded a fanfiction for something that isn't Hetalia. It's taken me, what, twenty stories? And I finally did it!

So, hooray for my first Layton fanfiction!

This story has been stuck in my head for a few days, but I finally sat down this evenig and typed up the first chapter.

This is set pre-Spectre's Call, but will feature characters from all the games. Rated T in case I get carried away in later chapters. If I don't, I'll edit the rating (but I think it should remain T, for the Professor's favourite beverage ;) ). If there are spelling and grammar issues, please excuse them. I'm uploading from my phone. I proof-read, but spelling and grammar aren't my strong point.

Not a game designer, don't work for Level-Five, don't own the Layton saga, nor will I pretend to.

* * *

Pale skin. Hair the colour of copper, held in place by a white ribbon. Eyes that weren't quite blue, weren't quite grey, and weren't quite purple. Dressed in black.

There was no doubt that this was the infamous Witch of Misthallery.

The Calamity Witch, they called her.

She brought disaster in her stride.

And those who crossed her were punished.

Wren looked down, and took her brother's hand.

Socket, however, didn't reach the conclusion that something was wrong.

"Wren," he began, "ain't that the Witch?"

She shushed him, bringing her head up sharply and locking eyes with the copper-haired boy beside the Witch.

He glared at her, then reached out and took the Witch's hand.

Wren gulped. Socket continued to let himself ramble on about the Witch, Arianna.

"You're an idiot, Socket," she told him, watching the Barde children walk past. "You've doomed us. People who speak ill of the Witch are-"

The bickering siblings were soon out of earshot.

Arianna's eyes burnt with unshed tears.

She felt Tony squeeze her hand reassurigly, and looked down to see his smiling face.

"C'mon," Tony's eyes were wide with compassion, admiration, love. "Let's go home. We'll sit by the lake and play with Loosha. She's probably missing you."

Arianna spent the journey home, up twisting pathways, wishing.

Wishing the villagers of Misthallery would say their cruel, hurtful comments to her face.

Because then she'd have a reason to cry.

Then she wouldn't feel so pathetic.

Then she'd be able to fight back, without seeming like the hostile one.

But they were all too scared of her.

Besides, even if they did say horrid things to her face, she wasn't sure she'd be able to retort.

She never wanted to see someone look as hurt as Luke had the last time they'd spoken.

The twisted, rusting iron gate that marked the beginning of the Barde mansion came into her watery line of vision.

She pulled the sleeve of her dress down, and ran it across her eyelids, hoping that that would be enough to hold back the tears she longed to cry.

By the time her arm fell back to her side, the large empty house that they pretended was their home was in sight.

Every time she saw that house, Arianna's heart filled with maybes and could-have-beens.

Ever since their father had died, all the excitement had vanished from that house.

When was the last time it had been fit to burst with people? When was the last great party that could rival a ball from the century passed?

When was the last time they'd had a visitor?

The post man was too scared to venture past the old iron gate anymore.

And Luke... Arianna didn't even want to think about the harsh things she had said to him the last time she'd seen him.

She didn't want to thinkabout how he'd bit his lip in an attempt to stop it from trembling.

Or how his eyes had widdened in horror, then clouded with tears.

Or how she had practically heard the heart of the boy who had been her only and closest friend snap promptly as she screamed at him.

Sighing, she sat herself down by the water, watching the ripples in her reflection. Her skirt rested on the grass, and she played with it idly.

"Tony," she said, not realising her brother had gone inside to fetch her flute, "I don't think I'll be leaving here again. I don't want to-"

A rustle from the other side of the lake made her look up.

"Tony?" she asked, rising for a better view.

She saw not Tony, but the top of a familiar blue hat.

"L- Luke?" she called across the water, barely daring to believe it.

She heard a muffled response of, "There's no Luke here, miss. You must be imagining things."

She chuckled. "If there's no Luke, who am I currently talking to?"

"Um... Would you believe your conscience?"

Again, Arianna laughed. It felt good. It was something she only did whilst playing with Loosha nowadays.

"I'm afraid I wouldn't believe you if you claimed to be my conscience," she admitted. "However, if you said you were Luke Triton-"

"Gah!" With a yell, the boy sprang up from his hiding spot in the lengthy grass. "Arianna, I don't have time for this! I'm going to be late!"

As Arianna yelled, "Late for what?", he turned around, and began to run.

As far as Arianna remembered, Luke wasn't especially good at running.

But he must have improved since then, because he was running pretty fast now.

Curious, she hoisted up her skirt and waded through the water- it came up to just below her knees- all the while yelling things like "Luke, wait up!" or "Late for what? Luke!"

Finally on the other side, a little wet and muddy, she ran as fast as she could through the wooded ground.

Every now and again, she'd catch glimpses of blue through the foliage, and thanked God that she had always been faster than Luke.

Soon, she was practically behind him.

"Luke!" she called to him, slowing down.

He turned. His face paled.

"Oh no," he stated. "You can't have followed me. You'll get lost! You'll never find the way out of this forest!"

"You can take me back," she batted away his concern with flick of her wrist. "Where are you headed to in such a hurry anyway?"

Luke shook his head. "I'm sorry Arianna, I really am, but I can't say. Honest."

She felt her shoulders sag. Clearly Luke still distrusted her.

She didn't blame him. She had been horrible.

But she didn't understand why she was there catching her breath, and Luke was fine.

She was the more athletic. Luke was more... academically inclined.

"I can't stay and chat Arianna, I've got puzzles that need solving and," he shuddered, "jam tarts that need eating."

"Let me help you," she held out a hand. "If I remember correctly, your mother used to make the best jam tarts-"

"Mum didn't make these," Luke cut her off, speaking quickly. "Mum actually knows how to cook."

Arianna felt a dark eyebrow rise. "If your mother didn't make them, who did?"

"I can't tell you Arianna," his eyes were desperate, pleading.

She opened her mouth to speak, but didn't get a chance.

"Arianna, I really have to go," Luke glanced worriedly over his shoulders. "I don't want to, but I do."

She nodded, clutching her hands to her chest.

Looking down, she began, "I understand Luke, you still don't trust me after those things I said to you. But I just wanted you to know that I- Hey! Where are you going?"

Arianna had brought her head up slowly, so as to meet Luke's gaze, and instead found his back as he ran.

"Sorry Arianna!" she heard him call back to her. "I really have to go!"

He seemed so focused on running, he didn't notice a group of branches snatch hungrilly at his cap.

He didn't even notice when it was torn off.

Arianna had never seen Luke without his hat on. He wore it everywhere.

She couldn't handle the thought of being him without it.

So, despite being tired, she ran after him again, stopping to collect his hat, pulling twigs and dried leaves from it as she chased that small, quickly disappearing spec of blue in the distance.

"Luke!" she screamed. "Your hat!"

She ran after him, desperate, clutching his cap like her life depended on it, twisting through the trees, barely noticing as brambles and bushes grabbed at her, tearing away the tiniest possible fraction of her flesh, ripping treads from her dress.

One branch even won the struggle with her hair, now a demented orange mess resembling broom bristles as opposed to the neat, slick straight style she was so proud of, and snatched her ribbon from it's previously pristine bow.

Said ribbon now hung there, waving slightly in the breeze.

The branch in question trembled victoriously.

Perhaps it was because she was looking over her shoulder at her ribbon that she tripped and fell down the rabbit hole.

Or perhaps it was destiny that she tripped and fell down the rabbit hole.

Or perhaps it was because she truly was a Witch of Calamity.

Whatever the reason, she didn't realise she had fallen down the hole until she was sat on her sore arse, the wind completely knocked from her, arm twisted slightly, wincing at the dirt in her eyes, and at the bottom, looking up at the all too distant circle of sunshine.

She felt panic grip her heart.

Her chest tightened.

She felt dizzy. Her breathing increased.

"Calm down Arianna," she told herself. "Luke can't be too far in front of you. If you yell..."

"LUKE!" she screamed, her voice contorted with fear."LUKE! HELP!"

"Ah- Arianna?" A tentative, familiar voice called out.

That voice was far closer than Arianna had hoped.

But... It sounded as though Luke was down one of the numerous tunnels that came off of the one she was sat in.

"Luke," she replied, her voice tainted with tears and joy, at the fact he was so close. "Luke, help me, please. I've...I've fallen."

"Arianna, I can't," his voice echoed from all around her. "I'm gunna be late!"

"Luke, please," her voice came out as barely more than a whisper, tears creating long, clean paths on her dirt-streaked face.

Omnipotent, his reply came back even quieter than hers had.

"Follow me..."

Arianna gulped.

_Follow me..._

Surely she was imagining it?

_Follow me..._

It sounded as though the speaker was beside her.

Suddenly, she felt a hand, an extremely muddy hand, tighten around hers, and pull her to her feet.

"Follow me..."

The next thing she knew, she was being led through the winding underground passage by someone who felt so much like Luke, but surely wasn't Luke.

What was Luke doing in a burrow?

It was too dark for her to see anything, she doubted Luke would be able to either.

But someone was there.

Someone was holding her hand and running.

And she was holding their hand back and running too.

What would her father say, if he knew she was being led blindly by someone would could very well be a stranger through a maze of underground tunnels?

Would he even care?

He'd probably tell her she was too ill, and that the doctors said she should be resting, and ban her from living what was left of her life freely.

Still, she wished he was at home with her and To-

Tony!

She'd completely forgotten about hi-

Suddenly she was falling again.

She was alone, and she was falling.

And at a high speed.

A very high speed.

She braced herself for an impact that never came.

Her descent slowed.

It slowed to the point that she was practically floating donwards.

She opened her eyes, and gasped.

As she floated down the seemingly-bottomless abyss the stranger had led her too, numerous objects floated upwards, towards the top.

Normal objects.

Basic household objects; things like candles and brooms and books.

Except they weren't normal.

As they ascended, they whispered to her.

They whispered impossible things to her.

They whispered puzzles to her.

_"What word, when pronounced right is wrong, but pronounced wrong is right?" _

_"There are three candles; a tall thin one, a small stout one, and a long winding one. When lit, which candle burns longer?" _

_"A man never leaves his house. One dark stormy night, he turns out his light and goes to bed. The next morning he's told he's responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. How did he kill them?" _

_"There's a street in which all the houses are painted black. The lights in the houses are off, the streetlights outside are off, and a man is driving his black car without the headlights on. A black dog runs out in front of the car, and the man stops. How did he see him?" _

_"There were ten candles burning. the wind came through the window and extingiushed two. Upon checking them later, you see another has gone out. You close the window to prevent any more going out. Assuming none do, how many candles are you left with in the end?" _

_"A man starts at A and tries to go to B-" _

_"A girl has seven eggs in a basket-" _

_"A family of four leave thier house on Monday-" _

Arianna clamped her eyes shut tightly, and pressed her hands against her ears, trying to drown the whispers out.

"I don't know!" she told the objects. "I don't know the anwers!"

Then came the impact she'd pushed to the back of her mind.

She landed with an "omph!"

Her eyes opened.

She took a moment to recover from the shock, and catch her breath.

Her knees were sore, and she found herself blinking in the sudden light.

Light?

Great.

She must have fallen into the centre of the Earth.

When she'd pictured her death, it had never been by burning magma.

Slowly, her eyes came to adjust, and she slowly pushed herself from the floor.

She struggled to stand upright.

And then she noticed that centre of the Earth looked an awful lot like the Triton's hallway.

And there was a boy sat on the steps, staring intently at a book, casually turning the page every now and again, who looked an awful lot like Luke.

Except...

Except where Luke would have a hat, this boy had untidy dark hair, and long, white ears.

Rabbit ears.

"L-Luke?"Arianna called out to him tentatively, struggling to walk, holding on to the wall for support.

The boy jumped, and dropped his book with a small squeak.

He looked up, and met Arianna's wide-eyed gaze.

"Luke..." she whispered, startled.

"Um, h-hi Arianna," he smiled bashfully, hands behind his back, looking down slightly.

"You- You lost your hat," she extended her hand, holding the cap out to him.

He moved closer, his smile growing. He took the hat from her.

He then grabbed his ears- his real ears, his real, rabbit ears- and tucked them neatly and expertly inside his hat.

"Thanks," he said. "Can't visit the Queen in this state, can I?"

"Luke, what are you on about?" she asked, as he adjusted the rim of his cap, twisting it to the side slightly.

"I'm sorry Arianna," his smile fell into a frown. "I wasted enough time waiting for you to bring my hat back. I'm going to be really late now."

"But-"

Arianna had barely began before Luke had disappeared out his front door, running as fast as his legs would carry him, and leaving her on her own, muddy, exhausted, and without an answer.

* * *

**Extended A/N: **

So I hoped you enjoyed that. I want to keep writing this, regardless of whether anyone reads this. If you have read this, and enjoyed it, you can review or whatever, but don't expect regular updates, because this story comes after the other ones I've been writing for a while.

If you know the answers to any of the sucky puzzles in this chapter, post 'em. I'll be sure to award you an acceptable amount of Picarats for a correct answer.


	2. In Which Arianna is a Practical Girl

**Author's Note:**

Wow! I wasn't really expecting a single review, if truth be told, and I get five? Thanks you guys, you're awesome.

So the beginning of the chapter is a little tedious. It picks up a little way in, so bare with it.

Slight spoiler; the Black Ravens make an appearance in this chapter, but they're more like OC's than the actual Black Ravens, since I didn't have my copy of Spectre's Call, and so couldn't really get their personalities down. I feel that the one canon Black Raven is a little OCC. I apologise.

Don't own the Layton saga. We established that last chapter.

* * *

Arianna was a practical girl. Always had been, and hoped to remain that way for what remained of her life.

She saw no point in standing in the hallway of the Triton's house, pondering questions she had no hope in hell of gaining an answer to.

For example, she was wondering where she was, and how she'd gotten there, but she chose to push her questions to the back of her mind, and deal with the fact that she was there, and that was that.

The other questions circulating through her mind consisted mainly of "Why their Earth does Luke have rabbit ears?" and "Just what have I done to my ankle?"

To Arianna, the main decision she needed to make was whether to go after Luke, and find answers to the questions burning through her brain, the questions she was trying very hard to ignore, or to address the matter of her ankle, which she could barely walk on.

Being the practical girl she was, she chose to attempt to restore her ankle to it's normal, painless state.

From her knowledge of the Triton Estate, she knew that, were she to follow the staircase before her up to the top, and then follow the hallway through to the left, she would find the bathroom. Brenda, Luke's mother, always made sure that the medicine cabinet in the bathroom was full of various bits and pieces of first aid.

This seemed like the most logical place to start her quest to help her ankle heal.

She limped her way up the stairs, biting her lip when the pain grew to be too much, but otherwise trying her best not to use her injured ankle to walk. It was while she was griping the banister as if her life depended on it that she realised it was not just her ankle that pained her, but the wrist of her right hand as well. She put the knowledge to the back of her mind, and decided to focus on conquering the stairs.

Once in the bathroom, she thought, she would analyse herself for all ailments. Because she was practical like that.

She'd spent enough of her life flitting in and out of hospitals to know exactly how to examine herself. At least, she could examine herself at eye-level rather efficiently.

Slipping off her shoes and rolling down her tights, Arianna gasped when she saw her ankle. It was swollen, and had turned a peculiar shade of purple. She poked it cautiously a few times, biting her lip and feeling her eyes water, before deciding that is was just swollen and bruised. She applied a wet flannel to it, hoping the Tritons wouldn't mind too terribly that she was using their bathroom utensils, before moving on to her wrist.

She came to the conclusion that she'd fractured it in the fall down the rabbit hole. She wrapped it quickly with a white bandage, still praying Brenda wouldn't mind.

And then she noticed her reflection.

Her hair was matted, and resembled a birds nest, a fact emphasised by the twigs and mud that had become stuck in it. Her face had a few small scratches, none of which she had noticed bleeding, but all of which were beginning to scab.

She filled the basin up with water, and splashed her face, before quickly removing the flannel from her ankle and using it to was her face. The water in the basin very quickly turned brown with the layers of mud Arianna was whiping off.

Reapplying the flannel, Arianna resolved to sort out her hair next.

She tore as many twigs as she was able to from her hair, then emptied the sink. She ran the tap for a bit, washing away the imprint the mud had left behind, and then filled the basin again. She bent down at an awkward and peculiar angle, wetting her hair and massaging the mud from it, leaving a basin full of repulsive brown water, twigs, dried leaves and even a lone feather.

Grabbing a towel from the rack and wrapping it around her head, Arianna remembered that the room next to this one was Brenda and Clark's bedroom.

Seeing how Brenda was a woman, and a rather beautiful one at that, Arianna guessed it would be safe to assume that she owned a hair-dryer. Or, at the very least, a hairbrush.

Arianna tried to ignore the fact that she was effectively taking advantage of the fact the Tritons weren't in, and using their house as her own. They were nice people, and she was injured and confused. Surely they wouldn't mind?

Besides, it was Luke who led her here in the first place, and he was a Triton too.

Nodding to herself, and making a mental note to thank them at a later date, Arianna removed the flannel from her ankle, grabbed a length of white bandage, and hobbled her way out of the room, remembering to turn the light off as she did.

Once in the master bedroom, Arianna made quick work of finding a dryer and sorting out her hair. After it was dry, she ran a brush through it, restoring it to a straight cut, nary a hair out of place. She then took the length of bandage she didn't intend to use, and tied it round her head in a make-shift bow.

Smiling at how she had managed to rescue her hair, Arianna glanced down at her dress, which was muddy and ripped.

She sighed, realising that what she was about to do was practically theft.

But really, what was the point in washing her hair and face if she was going to track down Luke dressed like this?

She opened the wardrobe, taking what looked to be the smallest item of clothing in there, a dress a few shades lighter than the blue she was used to be wearing, and slithered out of her tattered dress.

She slipped Brenda's on over her head, also taking a cardigan for good measure, and a pair of comfortable looking shoes that she hoped would make walking on her ankle less of an ordeal.

Folding her dress neatly and placing it on the bed, Arianna considered leaving a note to explain the situation to the Tritons when there returned from wherever they may be. She decided not to do this, coming to the conclusion that she had already wasted enough time, and that now, her main priority should be finding Luke.

She began to walk.

It was a slow, painful walk, but she found that the more weight she placed on her ankle, the easier it became to walk through the pain.

Finally at the bottom of the staircase, she place a hand to the door, only to find it locked.

Brilliant.

After searching, she found a second door, a much smaller door, but, coming to the conclusion that she would never fit through it, she did the practical thing, and climbed out of the open window.

Once outside, she realised that, wherever she was, it was not Misthallery.

To start off, the sky was wrong. It still had a sun, and a moon, but for some reason, they were both in the sky at the same time. It wasn't blue so much as it was a kind of purpley-red, like it had gotten stuck one sunset, and never changed back.

The grass and the plants felt different. She couldn't put that feeling into words. The grass was still green, the trees still had trunks and branches and leaves, but there was something about them that was different.

The whole place seemed oddly familiar to Arianna, like she was thinking about a dream she'd had a few nights ago, but she couldn't remember anything about it except that it had been beautiful, enjoyable, and really, really vivid.

She didn't know how long she stood there, awestruck, but the spell the new world held on he was broken when someone not much taller than her, dressed in a black cloak and beak-like mask, bumped into her and knocked her off her feet.

"Sorry, miss," he mumbled- Arianna assumed it was a he because of his gruff, masculine voice. "Didn't see you there."

He stood up, and held out a hand to help her up. She grabbed it, trying not to rely on her injured ankle too much.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry anyway?" she asked, dusting herself off.

"Meant to be meeting with the other Black Ravens," he answered, looking around worriedly.

"Hey!" she heard someone distant yell. "Didn't think we'd evah find you! Thought them damn Tweedles 'ad got you for sure!"

"Those, dammit, those! For God's sake, learn to open your mouth without disgracing the English language!"

Arianna turned as Masked Boy, which is how he shall be referred to as until a more fitting alternative is displayed, laughed and waved at the two people, both dressed identically to him, in long black robes, birdlike masks, and straw wigs.

Approaching the pair, Ill Spoken Lad looked between Arianna and Masked Boy, before saying rudely, "'o's the skirt?"

"God," came the more feminine voice of his companion, leading Arainna to the conclusion she was a girl, "could you be anymore politically correct if you tried?"

Ill Spoken Lad shrugged. Girl assumed he didn't know what political correctness was.

Arianna held out a hand to Girl. "My name's Arianna Barde." She attempted a friendly smile, but was unaware of whether or not it succeeded.

Ill Spoken Lad grabbed her hand, and shook it. "Nice tab meet yah, Ah-rih-ah-naa! I'm-"

"Idiot!" Girl whacked the back of Ill Spoken Lad's head. "You can't give her your real name! We're Black Ravens at the moment!"

"Ah, course! I knowed dat!" Ill Spoken Lad rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, whilst Arianna struggled to decide whether his accent was annoying or endearing.

"Knew. You knew that," snarled Girl. Her fists began to clench. "And you obviously didn't."

"Anyway," Masked Boy spoke, causing the others to look at him, "are we gonna get this Crow Race on the road or what?"

Whilst the other two nodded enthusiastically, Arianna asked, "What's a Crow Race?"

"'sa race ya our leadah, Crow!" exclaimed Ill Spoken Lad.

If Arianna could see Girl's face, she imagined it would be full of displeasure.

"Fool!" she screamed. "You just gave away the identity of our leader!"

He shrugged. Masked Boy turned to Arianna and asked, "Wanna join us?"

She shook her head. "I've hurt my ankle; I'm afraid I'd-"

"Ah, whot? You has ta play if you've 'urt yah ah-nkle! I'll win fah sure!"

"Oh God," Girl fell to her knees and buried her head in her hands. "I'm not even going to bother trying to correct you anymore..."

"If you can't play, why don't you judge? You can hand out prizes," suggested Masked Boy.

"Ah-rih-ah-naa can give us prizes!" cheered Ill Spoken Lad. "We'll start now! On yah marks, set, GOO~!"

Ill Spoken Lad and Masked Boy sped off, leaving Girl still sat on the ground. She scrambled up from her seat, and called, "I was sat down! That's an unfair start for you two!" and chased after them.

Arianna limped forwards slightly, unsure of where to go or what to do.

"So you're Arianna, eh?"

She turned. A figured loomed out from the shadows, taller than the others, robes darker than the others, beak longer than the others, a slight smile visible beneath the hood.

Arianna could feel his eyes on her. She nodded.

"I've heard a lot about you from the White Rabbit," his voice was light, like he was amused, chuckling about some inside joke that only he understood. "I never expected to meet you, though. Not in the flesh-like."

"Who- who are you?" Arianna choked out, clutching her hand to her chest.

He laughed. "I've been called many names. Here, I'm known as the Dodo. To those idiots you just met, I'm the Black Raven. But you," he took her hand, bent down and missed it lightly, "can call me Crow."

As he stood back up at his full height, Arianna asked, "Are all your names bird-related for a reason?"

Lowering his hood, revealing dark hair tucked neatly under a blue cap not unlike Luke's, Crow smiled. "Nah. I just think they sound cool."

Arianna nodded. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Ask away," Crow said, gesturing to a ground as if to suggest they sat down. "It'll be a while 'til my troops work out where I am. In the meantime, would you like me to take a look at your ankle? I heard to say it was injured."

Sitting down, she answered, "Yes, but there isn't much you can do for it. It's swollen, you see?"

Crow looked at it and nodded. "At least allow me to wrap it in some Syrus leaves. They'll take the swelling down."

She shrugged. "If you like."

As he began searching through the pouch attached to his waist, Arianna asked, "So where exactly are we?"

Acquiring that which he needed, his nimble fingers making quick work of binding her ankle, Crow said, "Wonderland."

"Wonderland? Strange name. How did I get here?"

Crow smiled. "I assuming Luke brought you, in which case, you will have fallen down a rabbit hole."

"I'd worked out that much for myself," Arianna admitted, watching his long, slim fingers. "It wasn't quite what I was asking."

"Well, I suggest you make what you mean clearer in the future, that way we won't get into any more misunderstandings."

Arianna felt her eyes narrow. She leant slightly closer to the boy, her hair brushing against her face and tickling her cheeks. "You know Luke then?"

"But of course," Crow's smile grew. "'cept, round here, we call 'im the White Rabbit."

"What, because of his ears?"

A nod. "And his social standing."

"Social standing?" She was confused. Luke was the Mayor's son. That was his father's standing, not his.

But maybe it was different here, in this Wonderland.

"Highest ranking Cards after the Queen 'erself," murmured Crow, nodding. "That's the Tritons."

"Cards?" Arianna was lost again. "What on Earth are you on about?"

Chuckling, he said, "I'm a thief Arianna, and a bloody good one at that. I can tell you how to unlock a safe in less than three minutes, but I can't tell you anything about the Queen and her Cards. It's not my job."

Arianna nodded, although she wasn't entirely sure she understood. In fact, she felt more confused now than when they sat down and began their little chat.

"Luke'll explain better, you should ask him," said Crow, rising.

"I would," Arianna took the hand he extended to her, but I don't have a clue where he is."

Both now standing, Crow paused to think. "You should ask the Tweedles; they'll either know or help you look for him."

"Tweedles?" And she'd thought she couldn't get more confused.

"Yeah. It's slang for "policemen". I forget that different countries have different words."

"Is this a different country then? Am I going to be in trouble if I don't have my passport?" Arianna began to fret.

Her panic just earned more laughter from Crow. "Not at all. You needn't worry so Arianna. It's fine."

"Right," she nodded determinedly. "Where can I find these 'Tweedles' then?"

"We have two," stated Crow, pulling his hood back up, but not so far as that Arianna couldn't see his face. "We call 'em Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, but their actual names are Tweedles Barton and Chelmy."

Arianna nodded.

"Barton's almost always eating so... So if you follow the Yellow Brick Road to Katia's Café, you'll most likely find him there."

Nodding once more, Arianna thanked him for his help.

"Stay on the path," he warned. "Thing's lurk in that forest, unsavoury things. Mad things. Things of pure evil, that won't hesitate to... Well, you're a beautiful girl, miss, I'm sure you can imagine what they'll do."

"I'll be careful," she promised, smiling slightly despite herself.

"I don't doubt that you will," Crow pulled his hood up completely, so that it hid his face. "Now, Arianna, this is where we part ways."

She waved slightly as he turned to find Girl, Masked Boy and Ill Spoken Lad. Still limping slightly, she then went in the other direction, following the carefully laid path of yellow bricks, until it came to the forest.

Remembering Crow's warning, she kept her gaze on the path, blocking out the darkness of the woods with it's light.

However, just because she was focused on the yellow didn't mean she missed the spot of blue when it entered her vision.

She spun around quickly, staring after it.

"Luke?" she yelled, desperate with the idea of finding him.

"Arianna!" Her name came back distant, a whisper, carried on the wind, and the next thing she knew, she cared not for Crow's warning, or for what lurked in the woods, because there was only one thought going through her mind, and that thought was Luke.

So she ran.

She ran through the pain of her ankle, she ran through her fear.

She ran through the trees until she came to a circular clearing.

And for some reason, she didn't want to run anymore.

She just wanted to stop.

It was as she stood there, catching her breath, that she heard a chilling voice, a voice that literally sent shivers down her spine, practically purr, "My my, what have we here?"

And all too late, Crow's warning came back to her, along with the realisation that whoever the voice belonged to was standing right behind her.

* * *

**Extended A/N:**

How was that for a cliff-hanger? 45 Picarats to the person who can successfully guess which Layton character Arianna's about to encounter, and which Alice character they're portraying.

Hmm... No puzzles in this chapter. Instead there are references to things that aren't Layton related. 10 Picarats if you review and tell me what they were. I think at least one of them is obvious.

Okay, right, answers to last chapters puzzles;

**Puzzle 001**- 10 Picarats

What word, when pronounced right is wrong, but pronounced wrong is right?

Looks like no one tried this one. The answer is the word "wrong", get it? Bet you're kicking yourself with how easy it was

**Puzzle 002**- 25 Picarats

There are three candles; a tall thin one, a small stout one, and a long winding one. When lit, which candle burns longer?

None of them, they all burn shorter

**Puzzle 003**- 25 Picarats

A man never leaves his house. One dark stormy night, he turns out his light and goes to bed. The next morning he's told he's responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. How did he kill them?

He's a lighthouse keeper

**Puzzle 004**- 30 Picarats

There's a street in which all the houses are painted black. The lights in the houses are off, the streetlights outside are off, and a man is driving his black car without the headlights on. A black dog runs out in front of the car, and the man stops. How did he see him?

It's daylight. Congratulations to Redsparrow3 who got this correct and earns the full 30 Picarats!

**Puzzle 005**- 20 Picarats

There were ten candles burning. the wind came through the window and extingiushed two. Upon checking them later, you see another has gone out. You close the window to prevent any more going out. Assuming none do, how many candles are you left with in the end?

Three, the seven that are lit will melt. Congratulations to MikuLover, who got this right an earns the full 20 Picarats!

**Next time:** Expect more puzzles, the debut of Tweedle Barton and Tweedle Chelmy, who we've heard so much about, the mysterious whisper person, and possibly a cup of proper, English tea

Oh, and before I forget, MikuLover has been working on a "Luke in Wonderland" story, which is older than this, and seriously awesome. It has the plot of the new Disney film, whereas this one is meant to be "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass".

The Mocking J has also been writing a Narnia one, which is also awesome. I recommend those two if you're following this story.

Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations, I'm off to the clock shop on Midland Road. You see, I just received a most peculiar letter...

-TotI


	3. In Which Clive is BiPolar and Unstable

**Author's Note:**

Ahh! What is this? An update! Impossible!

Sorry to have kept you all waiting so long, but I have had so much on recently. It's exam season again, and I'n failing everything. I have like, no time to write at the moment.

Also, I have no laptop at the moment, which means I have to update from my phone. That's why there are probably spelling and grammar mistakes; auto-correct hates my face.

There's minor language in this chapter, as well as a confusing plot advancement, and my attempts to interpret Wonderland awesomely.

Apologies for OCC-ness

* * *

There are moments in life that render one so helpless, the only thing one can do is marvel at how hopeless their current situation is, and the foolishness that had led to one becoming entangled in such an event.

This was one of them.

In hindsight, yes, it was a very stupid idea, possibly the most stupid Arianna had ever had, to stray from the path she had been warned not to stray from. Even if it had been Luke she was following, it would still have been a stupid idea.

Arianna was frozen. She couldn't move. She found herself rendered completely helpless.

She desperately wanted to screw her eyes tightly shut, and block out the horror of what was currently occurring, but she couldn't even do that. She had no idea what she was meant to do. Did the mysterious voice expect an answer? Was she meant to reply-

"So you're the elusive Arianna Barde I've heard so much about?" came her tormentor. His voice flowed like molten silver, a menacing melody lurking just below a surface laced with silk. Though Arianna couldn't see him, she had the strangest, inescapable feeling that he was circling her, much as predatory animals did to their prey.

She still didn't know whether to reply or not. Something told her that the question was rhetorical, but the Voice had left a pause on purpose, as if daring her to answer, and face the dire consequences that that would cause.

"Not much to look at, are you?" came the Voice again, this time condescending. Despite her situation, Arianna felt her fists clench. "I can't see why my White Rabbit would choose you over me, unless of course you have a wonderful personality, and a sparkling intellect. Which, from the looks of you, and the fact you followed me, even mistook me for the Rabbit, I doubt."

Arianna bit her lip. She felt herself grow angry with the Voice. It was not only judging her, but it was insulting her too.

Were it not for her fear, she would've said something.

But fear often takes a backseat to anger, and one finds oneself lost in the heat of the moment, don't they?

"What gives you the right to make assumptions like that?" she found herself calling into the darkness. "Frankly, I find it rather rude. And furthermore, if you're referring to Luke when you say "White Rabbit", then I'll think you'll find he's a person, not your property-"

There was a hiss, and the next thing Arianna knew, someone taller and stronger than her had their hand pressed firmly over her mouth, silencing her.

"The White Rabbit is mine!" they continued to hiss. "Nothing a bitch like you says will ever change that!"

Arianna looked up, realising that this was the Voice that had been tormenting her so. Her grey eyes met dark eyes, narrowed with fury, and once again, she was petrified.

But she also wanted whoever the hell this was to let go of her face.

They recoiled with a feline yowl as she sunk her pristine white teeth into their hand.

He stood not far from her, the rage practically emanating from him, clutching his hand to his chest, and Arianna could now see why she had mistaken this man for Luke. Albeit taller, and obviously a few years older, then man was the spitting image of Luke, with eyes and hair of the same colour. The man was even wearing a cap, similar in style to that which Luke wore, although it was a darker blue. The man wore a shirt and tie, a brown waistcoat over his shirt, and a blue blazer over the waistcoat. His trousers stopped at his knees, like Luke's did, and his socks, which were the same blue as his hat, came up to almost where his trousers stopped.

He also had a long, bushy tail, purple in colour, that flicked from side to side angrily.

He looked up to Arianna, seething, his gaze narrowed to the point that his dark eyes were practically slits, and he smiled at Arianna, revealing white, pointed teeth.

"So that's the way you want to play, is it Arianna?" his eyes gleamed, a twitching movement displacing his hat from where it rested on his head. "I can bite too, you know."

Arianna gulped. "It would be rude of you to kill me without introducing yourself first," she stated, trying to earn herself time to come up with a decent escape plan.

"Oh, Miss Arianna," he smiled lopsidedly. "I'm not going to kill you! That would be ungentlemanly."

"Then- then what are you going to do?"

He lowered his hand, his tail swishing more gracefully now. He moved towards her, slowly, still smiling. "I'm merely going to use you as bait."

Her heart twisted. "Bait for what?" she choked out.

His smile grew, exposing his pointed teeth, glinting in what little light there was. "It seems," he began, the beauty of his voice lulling Arianna into some sense of security, successfully masking the madness of the man himself, "that you and I both seek the same thing; the White Rabbit. He's been avoiding me lately, but with you here, he'll have to come back."

This worried Arianna slightly; didn't cats tend to kill rabbits?

"And then I'll kill you."

The madness completely took over the man's face, contorting it into something evil, twisting his smile, causing it to grow to the extent that the corners of his mouth nearly reached his eyes.

Arianna recoiled, horrified.

The man, if you could call him that, merely began to laugh.

Arianna took a frightened step backwards, and almost tripped. The next thing she knew, she was up on her feet again, being cradled by the craziness that this cat-person was.

"I'm so sorry, Miss," he apologised, the regret in his voice genuine. "I didn't mean to cause you to fall-"

"Get off me!" she cried, attempting to tear his hands from their supportive positions on her arms. "You're-"

"Ah," he smiled, this time in a manner that made him look somewhat attractive. "Where are my manners? We have 't been properly introduced, have we?"

He removed his hands from Arianna, and dusted them on his waistcoat.

Now, Arianna understood that she had been more confused than ever before in the past hour or so, but this confusion had now reached an exceptionally high level. One second this man was trying to kill her, the next he was a perfect gentleman?

Had Arianna ever actually read the story of Doctor Jeckell and Mr Hyde, she was sure this man would remind her of the eponymous characters.

He extended his hand, and removed his cap, bowing slightly. His lack of cap revealed two pointed feline ears, the same shade of purple his tail possessed. "The name's Dove. Clive Dove."

Arianna hesitantly took his hand, and gave it a timid shake. "I'm-"

"I've believe it's clear that I both know and despise you, Miss Barde," said Clive, bowing his head. His ears twitched slightly. Arianna couldn't quite tell whether his tail was that of a cat, or that of a fox.

Baring in mind what they said about curiosity, Arianna asked timidly. "Mr Dove, forgive me for asking, but are you a cat or-"

"No!" Clive screamed, his face once again contorted and twisted into an expression that was inhuman. He recoiled from her, hissing withdrawing his hand from her grasp as if burnt. He placed his hands over his ears, pushing them, folding them down against his dark curls. "They call me a cat, but I'm not a cat! I'm not a Chesire Cat, am I? You don't think I am, do you?"

He was on his knees, hugging himself, his grip tightening. Arianna didn't know who he was talking to. She took a hesitant step towards him, shaking slightly with nerves.

Clive began rocking back and forth, his comforting smile returning. "I'm not a Chesire Cat, they just say that because they're jealous, don't they? They don't understand. They don't understand me, what I want, what I need. No one does. Except my White Rabbit, my wonderful White Rabbit, he understands me. He loves me, he does, my little White Rabbit."

Arianna watched in horror as his face was taken over by that grotesque smile, if it could be called that. His eyes widened, the darkness becoming metaphorical, his torment and anguish shown hidden by his smile evident in their murky depth.

"He does love me, doesn't he? You think he loves me, right? I know you do. You think he loves me. I don't need to listen to what those bitches say, because I know the truth. No one understands me, but he does. He does!"

Squeezing himself tighter, Clive began to laugh, muttering "I'm not a Cheshire Cat! I'm not!" over and over again.

Arianna placed a hand on his shoulder.

All of a sudden, his head snapped up, and she was the focus of those tormented eyes, and the receiver of that twisted smile, and her wrist, her fractured wrist, was being gripped in the tightest of embraces. She let out an uncomfortable squeal, her eyes clouding with tears from the pain.

But, as the practical girl she was, she didn't cry.

"Want to hear a riddle? Want to hear a riddle, you rabbit-stealing Alice?"

His voice rose in a terrifying crescendo, getting both louder and higher. Arianna couldn't move for his grip.

"I have freedom from hate, but not from lies. I'm usually seen through clouded eyes. I come unexpected, though you may wait all your life. I can't be bought yet some people try-"

All of a sudden, Clive let off an ear-piercing screech, before collapsing onto the floor. His grip on Arianna's wrist went slack, and she tugged her hand back, and clutched it to her chest, terrified.

"You're gunna want to run," she heard a small, accented voice call. "It's not going to be long 'til this 'ere Cheshire wakes up."

Arianna's eyes found the speaker, and doubled in size. "You- You're a bee! How can you talk?"

Pulling his stinger from Clive's neck, the bee said, "I ain't no ordinary bee! I'm Beasley, the Puzzle Bee! And I'll be the one asking the questions, Alice!"

Arianna's slender brows furrowed. "My name's not Alice..." she said, confused. Clive had called her that too. She didn't quite understand it's relevance.

"I wouldn't expect yah name tah be Alice. 'o'd call their daug'ter such an offensive name?" the nasal tone of his voice was beginning to get on Arianna's nerves.

"But Alice is a lovely name," she protested. "I used to have a doll named Alice. She had such beautiful golden hair-"

"Look," Beasley interrupted, and quite rudely, Arianna thought. "I've never met any of you Alices before, so I ain't quite an expert on yah culture. Maybe where you're from, Alice ain't an insult, but down 'ere in Wundaland, being called an Alice is about as offensive as it gets."

"But why?" asked Arianna, tucking a stray strand of hair away behind her ear. "I don't underst-"

Just then, Clive began to stir, mumbling something.

"Quick!" cried Beasley, zipping up to Arianna's face, his wings flittering faster than before. "We need to go! Before the Cheshire wakes up!"

Arianna nodded, and Beasley began to lead her back what she could only assume was the way she came. There was a steep uphill climb through the forest, Arianna's eyes flitting from one side to the other, trying to make out something in the poor lighting.

"Beasley," she finally began, filling the awkward silence that dwelt between them. "What's a Cheshire Cat? Why did Clive take such offence at being called that?"

"A Chessire's someone 'o's not completely mentally stable," the bee answered, floating a little way in front of her. "It's maybe not tha nicest way of sayin' it tho."

Arianna nodded.

"But that reminds me," Beasley continued. "We're almost out of these 'ere woods, and you ain't solved a single riddle o' mine."

"I'm- I'm not very good with riddles," Arianna admitted.

"Of course you ain't, you're an Alice. But anyway;

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,

Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.

It lies behind stars and under hills,

And empty holes it fills.

It comes first and follows after,

Ends life, kills laughter."

Arianna paused, and stopped walking in order to truly work out this puzzle.

And then she heard a terrifying, feline shriek.

"That'll be the Cheshire," Beasley glanced behind him. "He won't be pleased with me for helping you. You're on your own from 'ere on out, Alice. And if 'e catches you, tell 'im it were the Cat'apillah wot stung 'im."

And the next thing she knew, she was alone.

Alone in the semi-darkness of the woods.

She did the only thing she could possibly think of.

Arianna began to run. That was when the pain kicked in.

She had been so distracted by Clive, and then the- oh, what was it she was meant to call him?- and then the caterpillar, that she had forgotten she had injured her ankle during her "trip" to Wonderland, and in turn, she had been so fascinated by Wonderland that she had completely forgotten her illness. The faster she ran, the more her ankle injury became evident. Her breath began coming in shorter, shallower gasps, something that usually happened when her frail body over exerted itself.

Still, she pushed forwards, haunted by the horror that Clive's dark eyes were, driven by the motivation of getting out of this vile, repulsive forest, whose trees leaves were illuminated in the strange half light to look more like blood than foliage. She could hear something behind her, whispers, stutters, occasionally her name, but she couldn't tell if she was imagining it or not.

It was like she couldn't trust her ears anymore. She was one sense down, struggling to breath, limping and terrified. And yet, Arianna physically couldn't stop, even if she had tried. Her legs kept moving of their own accord. They clearly wanted her out of there too.

The trees began to thin, and she could see a brighter, more genuine light in the distance.

She felt a smile curl on her desperate lips; this was the light at the end of the tunnel.

Arianna never liked using that figure of speech, for it reminded her of her father, and not in a pleasant way.

Tony had once had a pet hamster, and it had died. Tony had been young at the time, and, though he didn't understand death, he could at least understand loss.

Arianna had held him while he cried for the animal that had been his best friend, and told him that there was a light at the end of every tunnel, no matter how dark it was at the entrance. Tony's light, had, of course, come the next day, when he had completely moved on, and decided it would be more fun to play with Arianna and Loosha anyway.

But her father had heard her that night, as she comforted her younger brother, and something had clicked. Later on, he pulled her aside, and did the most difficult thing he had ever done in his life.

He had told her her illness was terminal.

Arianna had never considered how hard this must have been; to look his young daughter in the eyes, to tell someone who's life had barely began that it would end all too soon. Of course, she had realised it was terminal. Part of her had always known. But hearing her father say it made it final. Definite. True.

He had then told her that yes, there was a light at the end of every tunnel, but sometimes that light was the train coming to push you into darkness forever. It was his way of saying that, no matter how many new treatments the Doctor's found, no matter how long she stayed in hospital, there wouldn't be a cure. This would be Arianna's end.

She felt herself stop. She was back in the present. She was running for her life. She was crying.

Wait... She was really crying?

Arianna had always prided herself on being a smart, strong, practical girl, and yet her she was, crying.

She stood there, sobbing, her sense of priority, her desperation, her motivation, all completely gone. Drained from her.

And then the little voice in the back of her mind said no.

And Arianna stopped crying.

She ran the back of her hand against her eyes, rubbing at their dampness, and grit her teeth. She silenced her sobs, gained control of her breathing, and walked at a brisk pace full of purpose, not quite sensing the need to run, what with the exit being so near, and Clive being so far (she hoped) behind.

She took a sharp breath in when she had finally exited the woods, hardly daring to believe that she had made it out of them alive. But she had. And here she was, in some kind of village, receiving strange looks from it's inhabitants to prove it.

She tugged on the corners of her skirt, straightening the dress, and ran a hand through her hair, surprised to find it still rather neat, before approaching the nearest villager.

The woman looked at Arianna quizzically, even before the young redhead had an opportunity to speak. She had short purple hair- fancy that, having purple hair. Arianna thought it a most peculiar colour for one's hair to choose to grow- and wore a pretty dress, though the majority of it was hidden by an apron. She seemed to be carrying a bucket, and Arianna assumed, from the sloshing noise it made, that it was full of some form of liquid. This, combined with the fact she was wearing an apron, led the girl to the conclusion that this woman had just been milking cows.

"Excuse me," she said timidly, her words accompanied by an awkward yet respectful curtsy, which, in honesty, was more of a gentle knee and head bob, "but might you know the whereabouts of Tweedles Barton and Chelmy?"

"But of course!" The woman began to chuckled, her eyes lighting up with a merry twinkle. "I'd wager there isn't a soul in Wonderland who isn't aware of Tweedle Barton's passion for food, and there's not better place for food in Wonderland than my café!"

"Ah," Arianna's eyes grew wide with understanding. "You must be Katia!"

She nodded, chuckling again. "I am. And who might you be?"

"Oh, Arianna. Arianna Barde," she extended a hand towards Katia, who looked slightly shocked and confused for a moment, before taking the younger girl's offered hand and shaking it firmly, her lips falling back into the smile she had previously been wearing.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Barde. Would you like to come in? I'll make you a nice cup of tea. Frankly, you look like you need it."

Arianna didn't know whether she should take offence at or be grateful for Katia's statement, but she couldn't possibly turn down the offer of tea, and so, consequently, found herself thanking the woman, and following her into a small but cosy café.

"The Tweedles'll be on the second floor," she told Arianna as she handed her a teacup that wobbled on it's saucer. "You'll know them when you see them; the wear strange hats."

Arianna thanked her, and turned towards the staircase Katia had gestured to.

"Wait!" Katia suddenly called out, the redhead spinning around on the spot to face her. "I hope you don't think me rude for asking, Miss Barde," her voice dropped to a quieter level, almost a whisper, "but you're from- from up there, aren't you? From the other world?"

Arianna gave a small nod. "It's not a bad thing, is it?"

Katia sighed. "We lost contact with the other world years ago. I only know about it from stories my grandmother used to tell me." A hopeful gleam shone behind her green eyes. "I don't suppose you know a Duke Anton Herzen, do you?"

Arianna shook her head. Katia's head and shoulders dropped disappointedly. The younger girl wanted to ask who this Duke was, but felt it rude, and had already seen the consequence of curiosity that day.

She thanked Katia once again, bobbing her head with gratitude, then hurrying up the stairs as fast as her sore ankle would let her. She had hazarded a glance at it earlier, and was delighted to see that Crow's leaves had stopped the swelling.

The second floor of the café was almost identical to the first, only with more light coming in through larger windows. Arianna noticed a man sat at the table by the window suddenly stand up.

She couldn't shake the feeling that the man was staring at her.

He had a large nose that made up the majority of his face, a bushy moustache that covered what his nose failed to, and greasy hair that hung in curtains around his face, if one could call his enormous nose and moustache a face, as opposed to merely a giant nose and moustache. Atop his greasy hair, he wore a large blue hat.

Arianna took it that that meant this man was either Tweedle Barton or Tweedle Chelmy, and, given what she'd heard about Barton's eating habits, she felt it safe to assume the smaller man at that table, the man with her back to her, was Barton, because, although she couldn't see his face, she could see the rapid movement of his knife and fork.

She felt her stomach churn and her body freeze as the taller man excused himself from the table and walked towards her.

"Excuse me ma'am," he said, tapping his hat slightly. "I'm Officer Chelmy, Tweedle in Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts police service, and I'd like to ask you a few questions."

Arianna's heart filled with dread. "Why? I'm- I'm not in trouble, am I?"

Chelmy scratched his prominent nose. "You won't be in trouble of you answer my questions honestly. You see, the Queen 'erself reported a kidnapping earlier this morning. And the kidnapper's description fits you perfectly."

* * *

**Extended A/N:**

Duh duh DUUN! There is my failed attempt at yet a other cliffhanger. I'm not satisfied with how this chapter ended, the others had better endings, but you guys have gone forever without an update, so yeah, this is better than nothing.

The riddles used aren't mine, I stole them. I even stole one of them from a book (twenty picarats if you know which one!)

Also, this story is loosely based on "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass", so it won't follow exactly the same plot structure, and characters from both books will make appearances.

Now for picarats:

For submitting a late, but correct answer to a puzzle in a previous chapter, MikuLover gets 15 picarats, as well as 22 for successfully guessing that the next character would be the Cheshire Cat.

NoOneOfConsequence also gains picarats. 30 for three references, and 45 for successfully guessing Clive would appear as the Cheshire Cat.

This brings our current totals to; Redsparrow3 with 30 picarats, MikuLover with 62, and NoOneOfConsequence with 75.

I'm thinking that there will have to be some kind of prize at the end of this story for whomever has the most picarats. Any suggestions?

**Next Time:** Yet again more puzzles, more running, a possible explanation as to who exactly the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit are, and what they mean to Wonderland, as well as our heroine very possibly catching up to Apprentice Number One. Or not.

Hoping to get the next chapter up sometime in June, hopefully after all my exams are over. I'll see you then!

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! You guys are the best!


	4. In Which Barton is a Pervert

**Author's Note:**

See Extended A/N for the reason this chapter is so short (wtf, not even 2,000 words! I'm actually ashamed of myself), and why it's late, and why there are no puzzles.

Yes, spoiler, no puzzles.

This chapter contains very few words, OOC-ness, and Barton being a pervert. Because he's such a small character, and I find him adorable, so obviously, he must be hiding some form of dark, perverted-ness.

Thanks for sticking with the story. Thanks for reading. Sorry this chapter isn't much. I really am. For my full list of excuses, see the end of this chapter. If you can even call it that.

Also, I don't own Layton or whatever. We established this, but I felt the need to point it out. For some stupid reason.

Oh, and hopefully you noticed this story has a cover. Or should have a cover. Whatever. I drew that. It's sucky, but it was a piece of fanart that got me wanting to write this story, so I felt compelled to do this. I drew the picture for the first time in an old sketchbook months ago, and it featured characters yet to be introduced. I then drew it again, in better detail, on a scrap piece of paper. Last week, I drew only the picture of Arianna into my newest skecthbook, took a bad quality picture, and attempted to set it as cover art. Yay if it worked. If you can't tell, because of my lack of talent and the picture's quality, that thing that looks like a dot is Beasley.

* * *

"Ki- Kidnap?" Arianna spluttered out the words, well aware of the colour draining from her face. "Surely- You can't seriously believe-"

"Miss, the two of us have never met, and I understand that these circumstances are less than ideal," Chemly tilted his hat. "You can't honnestly believe that I would take the word of a stranger over that of my Queen?"

Arianna's stomach plummeted towards the ground. His Queen -Luke's Queen- had placed this accusation against her. She couldn't expect any one to trust her when the Queen, the bloody Queen, had her down as a criminal. Her voice thick with displeasure and sorrow, she managed to choke out, "And whom exactly am I meant to have kidnapped?"

She could feel her eyes clouding with tears, and tried to fight the urge to blink, not wanting to appear weaker than she already did. She didn't need this right now; trapped in a world of lunatics and madmen, a world with a justice system probably completely different to that of her own. She felt every inch of her body freeze as she realised this world could very possibly enfource the death penalty. It could be a world without fair trial. Arianna did not want to spend the rest of her days sat in a prison cell, wondering if her illness or her captors would kill her first.

Chelmy coughed, before saying in his rough, accented voice, a voice that made him sound as if he had grown up in the East End of London, as oppossed to in this world of nightmares Arianna now found herself in, "The, er, Queen's beloved, I believe. That right, Barton?"

Arianna had probably been too shocked and preoccupied to notice the shorter Tweedle leave his seat and plod over. He nodded, pulling a notebook from his back pocket. "Yep, the Queen's beloved," he chirped in agreement, and Arianna couldn't help but notice the drastic difference in the height of the two men, as well as the pitch and tone of their voices.

"And whom might that be?" Arianna asked. "I can assure you, I know nothing at all about your Queen, let alone whoever the hell she's in love with."

"Don't know nothin' about the Queen, eh?" repeated Chemly, nudging Barton, who then took this down. He stooped, shoving his large nose into Arianna's face. She could taste his meal on his foul-smelling breath as he spoke. "Call yourself a citizen of Wonderland, but don't know nothin' about the Queen?"

Barton shook his head. "Disgraceful," came his insufferably high addition. "Just disgraceful."

Arianna was about to open her mouth to protest that she certainly did not call herself a citizen of Wonderland, and was only there to find Luke so he could take her home, when she was halted by Chelmy's disapproving, "Betcha gonna tell me you don't know 'ho the White Rabbit is, either."

"Well, actually," Arianna began, her elegant, well brought up tones echoeing in her head, and, in her opinion, making her sound far more refined and elegant than the Tweedles, "I do know the White Rabbit. I know him rather well. At least, I did."

There was a moment of utter silence as Barton and Chelmy stared at her, the former with his jaw slack and pencil dangling loosely in his hand. Chelmy was the first of the pair to recover, and spoke with a voice laced in anger, though it was clear he was attempting to keep in neutral. "What do you mean, you did?"

"We had a falling out, you see?" Arianna was unsure why she was telling them this. It wasn't as if her relationship with Luke was any of their business. "I- I hurt him."

To her surprise, Tweedle Barton gasped, and loudly. "Is this a confession?" he asked, his pencil scratching rappidly against the paper of his notebook.

"A confession to what?" Arianna replied, confused.

"Are you confessing to the kidnap and murder of the White Rabbit, Miss?" His voice was emotionless, but when he looked up and met Arianna's gaze, the his eyes told a completely different story.

"What? No!" She was outraged, her voice high in both pitch and volume. "That's-"

"In what way did you "hurt" the White Rabbit?" Tweedle Chelmy lifted his hat, and attempted to brush his greasy hair to the side of his face, in order to better see Arianna.

"I hurt his feelings!" Arianna cried, distraught. "I didn't-"

"Is that a polite way of sayin' you lured 'im inta your bed?" Barton's watery eyes met Arianna's wide, horrified violet pair. His comment earnt him a sharp slap on the head from Chelmy.

"Why is it," the taller growled, "that whenever we have an attractive young female suspect, you always assume they're a whore?"

Barton shrugged. "I don't ever call 'em that. But you can never be too sure, you know boss? Girls these days ain't got a shred of modesty. Only decent woman in Wonderland is her majesty."

Chelmy folded his arms and began to grumble under his breath. Arianna told herself to run, while they were distracted but for some reason, she just couldn't do it. Her legs were rooted to the ground, fear and curiosity forming an anchor that held her in place. She wanted to know more about Wonderland, about it's Queen, about Luke, and she fashioned it would only make her look guiltier were she to attempt to escape. The last thing an injured, terminally ill girl lost in a world that couldn't possibly exist needed was the inhabitants of that impossible world chasing after her, trying to arrest her for a crime she didn't commit.

"Right, I've had enough," Chelmy growled. "We'll take her down the station, the Queen can send someone to identify her-"

"Wouldn't it make more sense for the Queen to identify her herself?" came Barton's contribution; a contribution that caused Chelmy's face to fill with colour.

"You interrupt your superior to suggest the Queen. Hay herself with something as trivial as this?" he yelled, his cheeks red. "What kind of imbecile-"

But Arianna didn't stick around to hear the rest of the argument. Something finally clicked. She had been set up, clearly. She didn't know by whom- someone who knew she was friends with Luke. She wanted to assume that very few people did, but then she remembered how the Cat had known everything about her, or, at least, her name.

There was only one way she was escaping this.

She pivoted on her ankle, completely forgetting if was injured, and came crashing down to meet the floor with a spectacular bang. She felt a blaze of pain, a heat source becoming uncovered around her nose... It was probably bleeding, she could feel something warm. The impact with the ground seemed to have caused the world to become distorted; her sense of sound had become less clear, and her vision was slowly starting to cloud, like she was seeing the world through a sheet of paper, a sheet with it's corners set on fire that was slowly crumpling in on itself.

And when the paper finally did roll itself into a burning ball of flame? What would she see then?

Well, that riddle hardly required a second's thought.

Nothing.

* * *

**Extended A/N:**

Those of you who are reading this because you follow me as an author, and I doubt there are many of you, because from what I've seen, there aren't many people on the website who seem interested in both Hetalia and Layton, and those are the only fandoms I've written for (argh, I know, dissapointment. I want to write for others, I just... haven't), will know that recently I promised to update this story on the tenth of every month, with an update for my other ongoing story the nineteenth of every month, as well as a oneshot (should that be "an oneshot"? That sounds so wrong...) every other Wednesday. You will also know that there was no oneshot, because I suck, and hadn't finished the one I planned to update. Regardless of whether you read the others, you'll know that today is not the tenth of July. Not only have I kept you waiting two days for an update, it's also a really dissapointing update, that contains nothing that you were promised.

Why?

I got sick. Saturday I was so ill I couldn't even watch anime; the noise was too loud, even on quiet, and even with my glasses the light burnt my eyes. There's a week and a bit left of school, so you'd think all the teacher's will be chill and whatever, but no, some of them are pushing harder than ever. I'm behind on Biology coursework, Music coursework, Spanish coursework, and my History teacher sets us an essay every bloody week. Add the fact that I was off all of last week on Work Experience, which was exhausting, and yeah, you have my excuse.

Every free second I had, when I wasn't like, crying about how tired I was, or drawing, I was working on this. It was hard work that made me want to scream, because I was tired and ill and miserable, but I did it. And then, on Tuesday, I found out it was all for nought when I uploaded the file to fanfiction, and found only half of the chapter was saved. It depressed me, I turned the laptop off and went out and sulked. I couldn't bring myself to re-write it, I was that pissed. I understand you'll all be pissed too, mainly because this note is longer than the story. I just hate it when people post notes as their own chapters, so you guys get the opening of a chapter and a note.

As soon as school is out, and I've updated Normality, I will re-write the rest of this chapter. I would've tonight, but I'm still miserable that it didn't save, and have to work on the chapter for the other story.

This was supposed to be an awesome chapter, like the previous chapter (which I re-read and am rather proud of. I think it might be some of my best work), in order to celebrate both the fact this would be getting regular updates and that I now have a laptop until at least September, but it isn't, and I'm sorry. Now, to end the note on a somewhat joyous note, I want to thank all of you for reading this, and let you know how special you are to me. This story's doing pretty well, and seems to be getting a nice response, so yay!

Please forgive me for the suckyness of the updating situation. At least I updated. I don't want you all to hate me, and I hope you'll stick with the story. There will be an update later on in the month, and it won't suck. I swear!

Finally, **NoOneOfConsequence** earns fifty picarats for sucessfully answering both riddles, as well as which book one of the riddle's are from.

**Puzzle 006:**

I have freedom from hate, but not from lies. I'm usually seen through clouded eyes. I come unexpected, though you may wait all your life. I can't be bought yet some people try

_Love_

**Puzzle 007: **

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,

Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.

It lies behind stars and under hills,

And empty holes it fills.

It comes first and follows after,

Ends life, kills laughter

_Darkness_, from _The Hobbit_ by J.R.R. Tolkien

I'm going to leave you with a couple puzzles I found online now. They were going to make appearances in this chapter before it got deleted. There were a lot of puzzles in this chapter. Answer in a review. I'll gove you picarats just for taking up the challenge (and for forgiving me for this chapter, hopefully).

**Puzzle 008:**  
This puzzle claims to be one of Einstein's, but I'm sceptical.

There are five houses in five different colours  
In each house lives a person with a different nationality  
These five owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet  
No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.  
**Here's the question**:_ Who owns the fish?_  
The Brit lives in a red house  
The Swede keeps dogs as pets  
The Dane drinks tea  
The green house is on the left of the white house  
The green house owner drinks coffee  
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds  
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill  
The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk  
The Norwegian lives in the first house  
The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.  
The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill  
The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer  
The German smokes Prince  
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house  
The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water  
With these fifteen clues the problem is (supposedly) solvable.

**Puzzle 009:**

He's not the nicest of men; 'e's always got this stupid 'at, an' 'e 'as a cane. Drives me mental. One time, I asked 'im to come down 'ere for questionin', an' 'e just tilted 'is 'at an' drew 'is cane, an' laughed. Can't you work out my brother's name from that, Miss Barde? God, you Alice's are as stupid as they say.

**Puzzle 010:**

This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it? It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it! In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out! Try to do so without any coaching!

**Puzzle 011:**

A couple go out for a walk, but the man forgets his umbrella. The woman offers to share hers with him, but her umbrella isn't quite big enough for both of them, and because he's taller, he takes up most of the room. However, though they don't both fit, neither of them get wet. How?

**Puzzle 012:**

The beginning of eternity  
The end of time and space  
The beginning of every end,  
And the end of every place

These were all featured in the chapter, I just had them saved in my Notes page so I knew both the answer and the question for when people tried to answer them. I really liked these riddles, and am probably going to put them in the next chapter, seen as that's where they belong, but I'd really like you all to try and answer them as soon as you read them, so I don't feel bad about posting the answers in the next chapter. If you're nervous about an answer PM it to me, so no one else has to see. I'll give out twenty picarats for each guess, to make up for how much this chapter sucks.


	5. In Which Tony is Finally Remembered

**Author's Note: **

Hey everyone! Thank you all for sticking with this story! You have no idea how much it means to me!

So this is a day late. Not bad, says I, not bad. You would've had it yesterday, but I was confused. Originally this chapter was twice as long, but I decided to split it into two chapters. That's why not all the puzzles you were expecting are in it. Sorry, but some of you are going to have to wait another month for your picarats. But you will get them! You will.

Warnings for this chapter not only contain the usual OOC-ness, but there's also some... The opening sequence is mildly bloody. For no reason other than I wanted to start it like this. Bare in mind originally the opening sequence was halfway through the last chapter.

'Kay thanks! Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the rest of the story!

Oh, and I went and named all the previous chapters, gave them something a tad more exciting than "Chapter One". Hope they work with the story.

* * *

_Arianna..._

It was whisper, carried back to her through false winds and echoes. In her broken, semiconscious state, she didn't know whether she was dreaming or awake, whether this was real or a fabrication created by her broken mind. She couldn't tell the difference between fantasy and reality anymore; she doubted she'd ever be able to tell the difference between the two again. She wanted desperately to wake up from the darkness that surrounded her, but she was unable, she couldn't, she physically couldn't open her eyes. She wanted to open her eyes to find out this was a dream. She wanted to wake up from the nightmare that had been her life for the past few years. She wanted to wake up to find her mother smiling beside her, her father holding her, telling her she'd been having a nightmare, her doctor laughing in relief as her saw her test results, assuring her there was absolutely nothing to be worried about, she was a healthy young girl.

_Arianna..._

It was stupid, stupid and weak, for her to think such a way. To try and convince herself that none of this was happening, that her life was a lie, because she didn't like the events that were occurring, or the way her life had played out. She had gotten herself into this mess, she had to find a way out of it; it was that simple. She had to start dealing with her own problems. She couldn't keep hoping they'd go away if she ignored them; she knew they wouldn't. This was her life, whether she liked it or not. It wasn't going to suddenly stop, it wasn't going to revert back into the way her life had been years ago, this was it. She couldn't change that.

_Arianna..._

It was her name. She'd always liked it. None of the other children had names as pretty as Arianna. It was the name of some elven princess, not a Witch of Calamity. She'd never quite felt able to do the name justice. In some ways, however, the ethereal qualities had only added to her reputation. She was small, quiet, with hair the colour of copper and eyes that could never quite settle on any one colour. The other children told her it was the name her real parents had given her before they exchanged her for the Barde's healthy daughter. They told her she was a Changeling, that she had been abandoned because she was sickly, and the fey couldn't be dealing with that. At one point, she had even began to believe these stories.

_Arianna..._

It was Luke who had taught her to ignore these taunts. How long had it taken her to work up the courage to actually speak to him? She didn't know. She did, however, know that it was possibly the greatest choice of her life. The boy didn't judge her, didn't believe anything anyone said about her, and taught her not to believe it either. He taught her not to care, and at the same time, he taught her how to care. She had never cared about another the way she did about Luke. And how did she show this? By yelling at him, by screaming, by cursing, by telling him that she abhorred him, by shutting herself away from the world and pretending he didn't exist.

_Arianna..._

It was then she realised that the voice that echoed back to her, the only sound in the darkness, belonged to Luke himself. "Luke!" she screamed to him, her voice bouncing back to her in waves of repetition. "LUKE!"

She strained her ears, determined to hear something other than silence. She longer for a response. After a wait longer than centuries, she heard Luke whisper to her, "_The beginning of eternity..."_

"What?" The word slipped from her lips like a wiggling fish from the grasp of a fisherman who had caught it in his bare, wet hands. However, she soon found she didn't care that his reply made no sense, because Luke was there. "Luke!" she called to him, feeling a smile slide onto her face. She had finally found him. Finally!

She tried to open her eyes, but found she couldn't. The darkness might very well stay with her even if she had opened them, but she would never know, as her eyelids seemed to be clamped shut. She brought her hands towards where her eyes should've been, and clawed. She scratched at the skin, determined to get them open, determined to see Luke.

"_The end of time and space..."_ he continued, his voice not getting any louder.

Arianna continued to claw at the skin that was refusing to part. She attacked her eyelids viciously, terror rising up her throat like bile. She had no idea why they wouldn't open. She told them to open. They didn't. She placed fingers on each eyelid and tried to prise them apart. They wouldn't budge.

She was filled with the need, the desire, the longing, to open them.

"_The beginning of every end..._"

Luke's cryptic words were drowned out by Arianna's desperate screams. She screamed until her throat felt as though someone had forced a bucket of nails down it, until it felt ripped and torn, until the pain cresendoed to the climax, until it reached the point she could imagine her throat was bleeding. It was at that moment she knew that unless she opened her eyes, she was doomed. It was over. She would die.

She needed them open. If she had to rip the offending pieces of flesh from her face, then so be it.

She continued to claw, her slender fingers and clean nails ripping at pieces of skin. She clawed and she tore and she ripped, and still her eyes refused to open. She brought her hands down from her face for a moment, and stopped screaming. She breathed heavily, trying to recover from her actions.

It was then she discovered her hands were wet and sticky, with what was no doubt her own blood. Slowly, mortified, amazed she could do anything, as her entire body protested it should have been frozen with fear, she brought those hands to her face, and trailed them around.

The entire thing was covered in wet, sticky blood.

As before, Luke's final whisper of, "_And the end of every place..._" was lost to her screams.

...

"Shut up!" growled Tweedle Chelmy, and Arianna blinked her eyes open to the harsh light.

Wait... Her eyes were open! She brought her hand to her face to find it soaking. She screamed.

"Oh, in the name of... What the 'ell are you screaming about?" He leered at her through the bars of the cell. When she didn't reply, he clicked his tongue, before turning around and leaving the room.

It was then it clicked; she was in a prison cell. And Tweedle Barton was holding a bucket. An empty bucket. It all came back to her. She had fainted, they must've carried her here whilst she was out, and Barton had thrown water over her to wake her up. She wasn't bleeding. That had just been some dream, some horrid, vile dream.

Wonderland was messing with her head. The strange ethereal madness that all it's inhabitants seemed to possess was starting to get to her.

"Where-?" she began, rubbing her head slightly, the pain from her previous collision seeping through her now conscious body.

Barton rubbed his eyes tiredly. "You're in a 'olding cell; Chelmy is preparing the interrogation room, and the Knave of 'earts will be down at two to identify you."

"Oh..." Arianna pushed herself up from the floor, until she was sat upright. She winced in the somewhat dim light, and tried to make sense of this through her disoriented mind. "How long have I been out for?"

He shrugged. "Close to a day."

"A- A day?" Arianna felt her stomach drop, and scrunch itself until a ball.

She had left Tony on his own for over a day.

"You have to let me out!" she cried, stumbling to her feet. Her legs shook under her weight, and she grabbed wildly for the bars to the cell. "Please! I have to get home!"

Barton sighed. "Miss Barde, you are the prime suspect in an abduction case, I can't just let you go-"

"Please sir!" She rattled the bars. "I didn't do anything! And I have to get home! My brother-"

"Please calm down, Miss Barde," the Tweedle sighed once again. He inserted a key into the cell, and opened the door. However, it was so he could enter, not so Arianna could leave. He pointed to the cold, concrete floor. "Sit down."

Shaking, eyes brimming with tears, she sunk back to the floor. Tony would think she'd abandoned him. She was the last person he had left, and now she was gone. She was a terrible sister. With a jolt of horror, she realised the last time he'd seen him, she'd been by the river, close to tears. What if he thought she'd fallen in the river, or worse; what of he came to the conclusion she'd killed herself, jumped in and drowned.

If he thought that had happened, then what was to stop him from ending his life the same way he thought she had?

Arianna shook her head, and bit her lip, tears drilling down her face. Tony was a good boy, a smart boy, he wouldn't do something like that. He wouldn't. And even if he did, Loosha would stop him. Loosha would take care of him until she got home.

Barton smiled slightly, in a manner that was somewhat empathetic, and reassuring, and comforting. "Now," he began, sitting on the floor, cross-legged, "I know you've got a formal interrogation in a while but per'aps you wouldn't mind answering a few off-the-record questions for me now, eh? Tell me why you're so anxious to get out, all of a sudden."

She nodded, snuffling, and wiping tears from her face. "Okay." Her voice was thick with her sorrow and heartbreak.

The Tweedle's chubby cheeks lit up. He pulled a notebook from his pocket, and said warmly, "Full name?"

"Arianna Barde."

"Address?"

"Barde Manor, Misthallery."

"Mist'allery? Never 'eard of it."

"Not many people have. It's a tiny town, not too far from London-"

"Landon?" Barton's eyes grew wide, almost as if Arianna had just informed him that she lived in Narnia. "The capital of Otherland?"

"It's- It's actually England," she stated, shifting her weight.

Barton's saucer eyes still stared at her. Then he blinked. "So," his head dropped down to his notebook. "You're an Alice."

"Well, no," she shook her head. "My name is Arianna-."

Barton stared at her once more, almost as though he couldn't believe she didn't think she was an Alice. Then he sighed and looked back down to her notes. "Age?"

"Eleven, going on twelve."

Barton looked up at her for a moment, his eyebrow raised. Then back at his notebook. "Relation to the White Rabbit?"

"He's my- He was my best friend. But we had a fight."

"What exactly was this fight about, Miss Barde?"

She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath in. "About my father. He had just died, and Luke tried to comfort me, but I- I just yelled at him, pushed him away."

Barton murmured, and Arianna quickly continued with, "I thought I was protecting him! People around me- Those who are close to me- Bad things happen to people I care about." She blinked away a few more tears.

"Any particular reason for this?" Barton pressed. "Perhaps involvement in the Mafia, or some other criminal group?"

Arianna shook her head. "It's nothing like that, sir. It's just... At home, they call me the Witch of Calamity."

Barton froze. "A- A Calamity Witch, you say?" he asked, shaking.

Arianna nodded. "It's a nickname I haven't quite been able to shake."

The Tweedle's face grew red, and it was clear he wanted to leave as soon as he could, but after a soothing breath, he calmed himself down. "Why the sudden need to leave?"

"I have a brother, Tony. He's younger than me, and I'm all he has left."

Barton nodded. "I understand. Ya know, I 'ave a brother."

The redhead locked her violet gaze on his beady eyes. "You do?"

"Yep. Older than me. He's not the nicest of men; 'e's always got this stupid 'at, an' 'e 'as a cane. Drives me mental. One time, I asked 'im to come down 'ere for questionin', an' 'e just tilted 'is 'at an' drew 'is cane, an' laughed. In ma face."

"Oh..." Arianna chewed her lip. "That's unfortunate. What's his name?"

He fixed her with a quizzical look. "Can't you work out my brother's name from that, Miss Barde?" When she shook her head, Barton mumbled, "God, you Alice's are as stupid as they say."

He pushed himself off the floor, and made his way from the cell. After exiting that, he then left the room.

Arianna felt very small and very stupid. She didn't know any of the puzzles people kept throwing at her. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and began to sob.

It was as she was sobbing that she noticed how far apart the bars of the cell were. If she were fairly small, or just the slightest bit smaller, then there was no doubt she could slip through them.

She tried this, but even with her body greased up with tears, she could only shove her arms through until the bars reached her shoulders. She grabbed everything she could, in a form of frenzy, hoping one of the items she acquired would be sufficiently strong enough to dent the metal caging her; she hit it with all the objects she found, until she came across a glass bottle.

Obviously, hitting it against bars would break if. It was better left alone. Or, it was, until she noticed the words, "Drink Me," imprinted in gold lettering across the front.

If anything was learnt from the second chapter, it was that Arianna was a practical girl. Her practicality was what prevented her from solving the puzzle of the small door, and led to her jumping through the window. Her practicality was what enabled her to place tending to her injuries above going after Luke. Arianna was a practical girl.

But now she found herself in a position where she had very little clue what to do; either she ignored the obvious invitation, or she went against her better judgement and took a sip.

She considered this for a while. This entire experience had been one bad decision after another, but she had only realised the decision was bad after she'd followed through with her choice. Maybe if she made what she expected to be a bad decision, the results would turn out better than the previous outcomes of her poor choices.

She gave the lid a sharp twist. The bottle hissed as the lid came off. Arianna couldn't tell if the glass was tinted, or if the liquid was coloured. She closed her eyes, gripped the lid tight in one hand, and used the other to lift the bottle to her lips.

She took a swig, felt herself smile at the taste, and found no problem with finishing the bottle.

Poison wasn't meant to taste this good. Therefore, this was not poison. Consequently, it wouldn't kill her. Henceforth, she could finish the bottle with no risk of her dying.

Which was what she did. She finished the bottle. She drank every last drop, and she savoured every second of it.

That is, until she felt an electric pain shoot through her entire body, setting her teeth on edge, shaking her, causing her muscles to convulse in sharp, fast twitches, and sending the bottle flying across the room.

She heard the glass shatter, but after that... Anything could have happened. She wouldn't have known, it wouldn't have registered.

Arianna didn't know anything. She had never known anything. All she knew was the pain that rocked her body, that sent her limbs spasming, that caused her brain to feel as thought her skull was compressing it, crushing it.

All she knew was the pain that she lost herself to. And it didn't take much more of that pain until she didn't even know that.

* * *

**Extended A/N: **

Sorry if this isn't the most in-character thing ever. I was in Spain, with no internet, no copy of Spectre's Call, and no copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I know I'm kind of going with my own plot, and I've got my own take on Wonderland, but I still like to have the copy on me, anyway.

I hope I chose a good place to cut the chapter in half. Is it good? Is the ending effective? Let me know in a review. Or an angry PM criticising my skill. (Lol, what skill?)

Heh, good news (for you guys); not only am I replaying Spectre's Call not that the DS I use has been repaired, but I'm also hoping to re-read Alice in Wonderland. Hopefully that could improve this story. I mean, I watched the ending sequence for the game again today- it makes me cry every time, why are all the Layton games so sad?- and realised that Arianna is probably my favourite character in the games, because she has so much depth, and there's so much to explore through fanfiction and whatnot. I intend to write more for her, outside of this story, at some point. Would any of you read that?

Oh, also, does anyone know what actually happened to her mother? It's hinted in the game that she's dead, but it's my own personal headcannon that she left because she couldn't be dealing with having a sickly daughter. I don't know if there's an actual reason she's not mentioned, and if she is, then I'm sorry for this paragraph.

The puzzles from the last chapter are still open, as is the promise of twenty picarats if you attempt them. But for now:

**Puzzle 009:**

He's not the nicest of men; 'e's always got this stupid 'at, an' 'e 'as a cane. Drives me mental. One time, I asked 'im to come down 'ere for questionin', an' 'e just tilted 'is 'at **an' drew** 'is cane, an' laughed. Can't you work out my brother's name from that, Miss Barde? God, you Alice's are as stupid as they say.

His brother's name is Andrew. Congratulations to MikuLover, who get's forty picarats for the correct answer. Twenty picarats to Redsparrow3, NoOneOfConsequence, Riku's Music Lover and The Mocking J for attempting.

**Puzzle 012:**

The beginning of** e**ternity  
The end of tim**e** and spac**e**  
The beginning of **e**very **e**nd,  
And the end of every plac**e**

The answer is the letter e. Forty picarats to Redsparrow3, Riku's Music Lover, and MikuLover. Twenty to The Mocking J and NoOneOfConsequence for attempting... Although I have to admit, NoOneOfConsequence, I really want to give you full marks for your answers to eleven and twelve. They're so amusing.

In addition to this, Riku's Music Lover get's sixty-five picarats for late answers to the puzzles from the first chapter. You'll all be getting more picarats next chapter, when the other puzzles turn up. Sorry they're out of sequence.

Anyway, what you all really want, the leaderboard;

_MikuLover-_ **142 Picarats**  
_Mocking J, The-_ **40 Picarats**  
_NoOneOfConsequence-_ **165 Picarats**  
_Redsparrow3-_ **90 Picarats**  
_Riku's Music Lover_- **125 Picarats**

Congratulations go to all of you! Still don't know what the winner's prize is going to be; open to suggestions.

**Next Time:** Those of you who have read Alice in Wonderland may be familiar with a chapter called "Pig and Pepper", or something like that. I believe it's the sixth chapter. It features a Duchess or something, her child, and her cook. Those of you who have seen Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva may have a vague idea of two female characters and and young child who share a strange bond- these characters will hopefully be the Duchess, cook and baby in next month's Laytonian chapter of Pig and Pepper. Twenty picarats if you can guess the characters.

Oh, and in a shoutout to all my British readers (I do have British readers, right? Right?!), we're coming third in the Olympics! Lol, no, that isn't what I'm excited about; what I really meant to tell you is this; the UK release (the European release, actually) of Mask of Miracles, which was meant to come out this summer, now has an official date! Sometime in October, I think. But don't hold out much hope; Spectre's Call was delayed so many times, even after it's official dates were scheduled.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you review and whatnot- maybe if any of you are British, you can leave a happy D face ( :D ) in your review, so I don't feel so alone; for a game that's meant to be the UK's favourite, best-selling DS series, it's hard to find a British fan. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time for Chapter Six: In Which There is No Pig and No Pepper.


End file.
